The other day I received an email from my son, Robert, that asked me two questions:


-What are the three most important factors in being a championship team?

-What are the most common pitfalls?

I quickly responded with the brilliance expected from someone who has spent 50 years of his life coaching people.  I havent received the critique of what I had to say but no matter.  Whatever it is, it is not the point of what I have to say today.

While on my morning run the next day, I was thinking of all the things I could have said that I didnt.  After all, he only asked for two.  What I realized was that no matter what I said or could have said, we were going to end up in the same place.

That place is in an interpretation, a filter, that is called œus and them.  No matter what the circumstances might be, to play at the highest level, there can only be œus.  All the factors I listed and all the ones I didnt give the team a chance to operate from œus.

The same is true for the pitfalls I mentioned and all those I didnt say.  They can lead us directly to œus and them.

So what does œus and them look like in action?  Here are some examples:

œA coach berates a player or group of players.  They feel singled out so they become œus, and the coach becomes œthem.

œThe offensive team fumbles deep in their own end of the field and it is recovered by their opponent.  Their offensive team goes in for a quick score.  The fumbling team becomes the œthem for the rest of the teams œus or maybe it is just the player who fumbled who becomes the them.

Look around you and find your own examples.  There are plenty.

So when we are caught in œus and them what is actually happening?  We are reacting to the situation by blaming the other party.  You know, œthem.  To do this, we probably have a nice little story that justifies our behavior.  You know this.  You probably see an example of this every day.

When we are just œus (the team) everyone is taking responsibility for everything.  It is my team and I am not willing to have any member fail at anything.  The truth is that if someone is struggling we are all struggling.  We are not the team we could be.

To be fully responsible for my team I have to be awake. I am looking for opportunities to support my teammates.  If everyone around me is successful how could I not be?

Before you jump to the conclusion that I am somewhere in œNever, Never Land and that it all sounds great but¦¦¦¦.Heres the reality.

A Championship Team is not a place to œget to.  It isnt about winning the trophy.  It is a process you are in to master being that team.  Mastery is a pathway and like all paths will have some chuckholes.

Will you screw up?  Absolutely.  Will you point a finger sometimes?  Count on it.  But you will (because you are awake) make the necessary corrections and get back on the path.  Like in life, period, your team must stay in the process.  Even in the toughest moments there is nothing like it.

Heres a tip:  When things seem out of sorts even in the slightest, ask yourself this:

What circumstance  do I have that I am allowing to knock me off the path?